Tonight marked the sad occasion of my final time experiencing a Real Madrid match at the Bernabeu from the press box. Over the course of the last 8 months of my master’s at the Real Madrid Graduate School, I have had the incredible privilege to frequent this special area of Real Madrid’s home stadium and witness matches from the perspective of a professional sports journalist. Tonight I did just that for (hopefully not) the very last time.
From this vantage point, in Fila 1 of the 8th floor, I have been an on and off spectator of Real Madrid’s journey through this 2025/6 season. While perhaps not the most dignified season in the club’s recent history, it certainly provided entertainment, drama and plenty of learning opportunities. All in all, I have seen ___ matches, 2 press conferences, 2 coaches, cheers, whistles, red cards, brawls, wins and losses, but most of all, I’ve seen football, and started to understand exactly what it means.
Once a relative stranger to this sport, since October last year I have got to know a team and its history and see quite how much it means for the people who fill this stadium week in week out and for the culture and industry that surrounds them. And while I fear I will never truly understand the fascination with this sport, I can at least appreciate it and respect it.
Out of my many visits to the Bernabeu, there are undoubtably several standout moments – both good and bad. My personal highlights include my first Clásico experience which was made more special by a 2-1 win at home for Madrid – an atmosphere I certainly won’t forget, vindication over Benfica in the second leg of the Champions League quarters and, from a purely drama-focused mindset, I would find it hard not to include the night when Celta Vigo battered Real Madrid in their own home… Plenty of highs, and plenty of lows, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes dull, the season has undoubtably been a rollercoaster. And here we are, facing the very end of it.
Tonight’s opponents, for Madrid’s penultimate home match of the season, were Real Oviedo. Perhaps not the most threatening of rivals, sitting plum bottom of the table with a whopping 29 total points, Real Oviedo probably knew they were fighting a lost cause. That said, given Real Madrid’s less than illustrious track record against low-level teams this season, there was still a fair chance they could emerge unlikely victors.
Following the absolute chaos that descended upon Real Madrid in the last week (dressing room bust-ups, Valverde’s hospital trip, Mbappé’s illicit holiday, a terrible Clásico loss and with it La Liga loss, and to top it all off, the most unhinged press conference from Florentino Perez that no doubt have the club’s PR team smiling through the pain), rather unsurprisingly there wasn’t the most pacific atmosphere in the stands tonight.
Nonetheless, the team came out and did their best to put on a decent performance. I have no doubt that team morale was probably lacking due to the aforementioned recent events, and I’m sure any sense of team unity was at least a tad strained, but there were still a fair few noteworthy moments of play. For the home team, the first half saw a few chances that fell short from Gonzalo, García and Camavinga. However, it wasn’t until the 44th minute that they managed to make a significant impact of the game. Just short of half time, Gonzalo sent a flying shot from outside the box straight into the bottom right corner. Despite Madrid taking the halftime lead, Real Oviedo weren’t without chances of their own. There was a couple of promising shots from Viñas and Vidal, but they couldn’t quite make it stick. In the second half, Bellingham, Mbappé and Carvajal all made their way onto the pitch (with varying degrees of reception from the crowd) and tried to leave their mark on the match. Mbappé managed a few close calls but I’m not sure it was quite enough to re-ingratiate him with a fanbase whose favour he has rather lost.
Bellingham on the other hand, managed to make more headway as he tipped the scoreboard further in Real Madrid’s favour in the 80th minute with what ended up being the team’s winning goal. Having started off as perhaps not his biggest fan, I must say that over the course of the season and through witnessing his attitude towards press and public alike, he has grown in my esteem a great deal and has become a player whose goals I look forward to and celebrate. Perhaps it’s down to shared English roots, perhaps it’s because he was nice to me that one time I met him; either way, he has become a player I respect and admire.
The match tonight felt pretty characteristic of this season for Real Madrid, and while it was certainly not some kind of crazy, nail-biting showdown, there was a strange comfort and familiarity to it and honestly, it felt like a fitting conclusion to my stint as accredited press. With almost all the key players: Bellingham, Mbappé, Vini, Courtois and co., I feel there wasn’t much more to have asked for. Perhaps a tad more show and spectacle would’ve been nice, but I have come to accept that idea of “oh well, there’s always next season” (one hopes….).
And with the final whistle, I wave goodbye to this rather above average view, pack up my laptop, climb the stairs and close the door on the Bernabeu Press Box. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be back here someday, and if I am here’s hoping to slightly more thrilling season.
The 23rd of May will mark my final accredited visit to the stadium where I will experience the team’s match against Athletic Club Bilbao from an altogether new perspective; pitch-side through the lens of a camera as a match photographer. An exciting prospect, I hope to be able to give as thrilling an account of that as I have of this.
